Blue Warehou - Hunting Tips

SPECIES ID AND FISHING RULES

Learn more about how to identify blue warehou, where to find them, and their feeding preferences here: SPECIES ID - BLUE WAREHOU

Limit your catch, don't catch your limit. Please check the latest rules and catch limits in your area on the MPI website: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/fishing-aquaculture/recreational-fishing/fishing-rules/

HUNTING TECHNIQUES

Warehou are quite athletic and once hit they will start making hard runs straight away. They’re not a big species so aren’t difficult to haul in and they prefer to head for open water rather than trying to wrap themselves around rocks, but they do have very soft skin and will easily tear themselves off a spear. Warehou lack a hard dorsal ridge so can tear easily. It is important to place shots well, preferably through the head or shoulder, as warehou lack a hard dorsal ridge so can tear easily.

On offshore reefs they hang around in big schools and come back again and again, presenting more opportunities for the spearo. In their offshore haunts warehou will often be found sitting right down in the weed or amongst gutters and boulders, resting from the current.  Strangely, warehou  pay almost no attention to a diver lying still on the bottom. If you’re down there when they arrive and they haven’t seen you swimming, chances are the school will file right past your spear tip. Most of this happens between 20m and 30m so it can be difficult and dangerous to get good bottom time.

Warehou also spend a portion of their time right up at the surface. When they’re in this mood, the best approach is usually just to lie on the surface either drifting or hanging off the back of a boat, taking shots from above without so much as a duck dive. As long as you’re not kicking, the warehou will pay no attention to you, just like they pay no attention to a diver on the bottom. In fact they’ll even swim over to investigate - just don’t be tempted to dive on them for a better angle as they don’t like this at all and will usually bolt.  
HUNTING TECHNIQUES
Warehou also spend a portion of their time right up at the surface. When they’re in this mood, the best approach is usually just to lie on the surface either drifting or hanging off the back of a boat, taking shots from above without so much as a duck dive.